Side with Their Base or With the American People on DEI
I have flown on commercial planes for decades now, my first flight took place when I was a college student. I remember it well, my maiden flight took place in 1992, I went to Houston, Texas for the Republican national convention. Back then it was known as the Washington National Airport, the Reagan name hadn’t yet been added. Ironically on my trip I saw Ronald Reagan in Houston.
Since then, as I have grown into middle age I must have flown a hundred times, and during all my times at an airport, going through the metal detector, strolling through the concourse, boarding the plane, finding the carousal where I could retrieve my luggage I never once considered the ethnic and racial make-up of the airline employees milling around. How many were gay, straight, how many were male or female, or trans, or considering making a well-considered and long overdue transition. How many were people of color – it never entered my mind. I just assumed that they got their jobs based on merit. And I certainly believed (I’m an optimist) that the pilots and air traffic controller were the most qualified people for their jobs. While I may not realize that there is a problem, the left does. And in an effort to curry favor with those lunatics the Biden administration took up an effort to have the Federal Aviation Administration enforce diversity in the airline industry. His administration also pushed to lower the hiring standards for the FAA. Apparently one way to get more diversity is to lower the standards. Thankfully, the Trump administration has acted to reverse the Biden initiative.
No doubt Biden caved to his base, who don’t believe that merit can overcome racism. This is a key bedrock principle of the left, that is America is a racist place, and the free market can’t overcome that racism. People can’t be trusted. Only a department full of Bolsheviks (DEI) can bring about justice. Now, I am not a woke social justice warrior, to me I don’t see a problem, but to the left there is, that is a lack of diversity in the cockpit. To the left airline workers, specifically pilots and air traffic controllers are still a bastion of whiteness, especially white men. I can’t imagine why it matters that the nation’s airlines, especially the pilots and air traffic controllers come from diverse backgrounds. I don’t see a compelling societal interest. Will a more diverse workforce lead to safer skies? I don’t see how. Those jobs should be strictly based on merit.
The other recent example of DEI gone crazy is unfolding in California, the recent wildfires in southern California have revealed that the DEI crowd have set targets on state and local fire departments, and not just in California but all over the country. That’s right, apparently, white males seem to want to fight fires, and they have most of the jobs in that industry. So, the DEI crowd is working hard to diversify the fire departments. Like airline pilots, isn’t competence the most important thing, indeed isn’t it the only thing? Why should you care whether the pilot, or fire fighter is white or black? Male or female, gay or straight? Can they fly planes and put out fires? Why would race and gender matter to doing the job?
DEI stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The term is used broadly. It includes the office, which is found in virtually every corporation, every government agency, in every organization, and every school. It is involved in hiring the teachers and indoctrinating the students. The left made sure that these offices touch every American. They spread the Marxist ideology and are design to intimidate those that opposes their dictates. And DEI can also refer to an ideology. Call it wokeness, political correctness, Marxism, critical race theory etc.
For example, this morning on the show Face the Nation, Republican Congressman Brian Mast (R-FL) criticized the State Department, telling host Margaret Brennan (probably a DEI hire herself), “DEI has been a top priority of the State Department over let’s say diplomacy, I can give you hundreds of examples of where they were authorizing a million dollars to expand atheism in Nepal, 50,000 to do transgendered operations in Columbia, 47,000 dollars to do a LGBT Trans comic book in Peru, 20,000 dollars to do a drag show in Ecuador.” Mast’s examples refer to DEI as a mindset. And no doubt those examples of lunacy is not unique to the state department; indeed, it is in line with what DEI offices push all across America. Interestingly I have noticed that the DEI crowd has a certain affinity, or should I say fetish, with drag shows. That one I have not figured out.
DEI is an outgrowth of the federal affirmative action programs from the 1960’s. That was a program which advocated hiring members of minority groups, even if they weren’t the most qualified applicant, that is to take into account race and gender in hiring decisions. Colleges and universities also adopted affirmative action in admissions. However, the court struck it down in a landmark ruling in 2023. Judge Roberts remarked that the best way to stop discrimination is to stop discriminating. It’s on this ruling that the Trump administration is getting rid of the DEI offices in the Federal government.
Americans know that DEI is pervasive and un-American, and they don’t like it. And DEI is broader than Affirmative Action, which was a program, usually found in an organization’s Human Resources department, and in the admissions department at a college. But DEI is a department in itself. It advances hiring minorities (not really minorities, but preferred classes of people) indoctrinating students and employees, and making sure the organization stays on an ideological course – a small example, no Christmas party this year. DEI comes out of an ideology, which believes that America is a racist country.
Here is the problem for Democrats, the American people, rightly believe that America is not a racist country. America is a very diverse place, and Americans overwhelmingly judge people by the content of the character, and by their intelligence, and their competence. So, the DEI programs aren’t supported by the public, because the public knows such offices aren’t necessary.
The public wants DEI eliminated everywhere. Do Democrats ditch the DEI crowd and side with Republicans and the public? That would help them move to the center politically but upset their base.
Republicans should press the issue. Every Republican running for office should campaign on eliminating DEI offices from governments and schools. How will Democrats respond?
I’m not sure but either way they will be in trouble.
